Recovery Today / December
2011
Dick B. /
A Christmas Gift that
Keeps on Giving
by
Father Bill W.
Nobody knows the real date of
Jesus’ birth. It could have been in the spring when the flowers first
bloom; or in the fall, when it’s harvest time and everything’s ripe and
bountiful. The truth is nobody knows. But, long about the fifth century,
the Church decided it needed to agree on a date, so they sat down and chose what
might seem like a very odd choice for the Savior’s birth. They chose the day of
the year when (at least in the northern hemisphere) the earth’s axis is tilted
farthest from the sun so the world turns coldest and daylight hours are at their
shortest. Maybe they had in mind the words from Isaiah the prophet:
“Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, … on them a
Light has shined.”
As alcoholics and addicts, I
think we can probably all relate to living “in a land of deep darkness.”
Nearly forty years ago, just after Christmas Day, my own darkness brought me
crawling through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. I found a home there and
enjoyed 20 years of uninterrupted sobriety before the darkness began descending
on me once again. This time I was sober, but I still hadn’t found that needed
“conscious contact” or “spiritual awakening” – at least, I hadn’t found it in a
form deep enough to carry me through another twenty years. Another trip through
the 12 Steps or another round of ninety meetings in ninety days simply
wasn’t going to cut it for this addict. I needed a personal relationship with a
God who could light my way home.
One of the men who helped me
find that Light is a man named Dick B. I first met Dick at Bill Wilson’s own
birthplace in East Dorsett, Vermont. It wasn’t exactly like going to Bethlehem
and running into one of the wise men, but it came fairly close! Dick was
presenting some of his earliest research. The gift he gave to me proved more
valuable than frankincense and myrrh. It led me into a new and more personal
relationship with God because, at that time, I was badly in need of some
spiritual grounding and enlightenment. Dick’s words struck the right chord. His
research brought the Steps and the Program into that new Light for which I was
searching. He did it, not by preaching but by presenting solid history and
scholarship on the origins of our Program. God had prepared him well for the
work assigned.
Dick came to recovery in as
bad a shape as any and worse than most. He suffered three grand mal seizures
during his first week off the booze. Once a hotshot lawyer with a degree from
Stanford, Dick landed in the psych ward of a VA Hospital in San Francisco where
he remained for 2 months. But there, in the depth of his own personal darkness,
he found God and began a recovery that now numbers over 25 years. Dick took full
responsibility for his past wrongs, pleaded guilty to three felony charges that
were later turned to misdemeanors. He went to prison for 30 days. But while he
was there, he helped guide as many fellow prisoners as he could and vowed to be
of maximal service when he was released.
Dick turned his talents learned as a research lawyer into
the service of God. He began studying the real heart of the 1939 program of
Alcoholics Anonymous. That original program had produced an astounding recovery
rate of 75% - far and above the diminishing results he was seeing in the A.A. of
his time. He read more than 500 books and pamphlets, interviewed dozens of
living members of the Oxford Group, and traveled to AA archives throughout the
country. He came away convinced that the original spiritual program of recovery
that was practiced especially in Akron, Ohio was being watered down to the point
where fewer and fewer alcoholics were being offered the in-depth spiritual
change sufficient to overcome addiction. Dick then set about publishing his
research (along with more than a few of his strongly held opinions) in a parade
of books that now numbers over 30. He’s also gotten with the times and produces
a blog along with scholarly articles that have grown into the hundreds. Get
yourself onto his massive e-mail list and you’ll never lack for material to keep
you growing along spiritual lines!
In the course of his work, Dick unearthed a number of
surprises as he dug ever deeper into AA’s early history.
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He discovered the key role that Anne Smith, Dr. Bob’s wife, had played in helping Bill and Bob, along with so many Akron families, find their way into a personal relationship with God through Bible study and the practice of Quiet Time. He published the first excerpts from Anne’s personal journal that spanned the years 1933 through ’39. In it, she covered a great many aspects of the First Century Christian Fellowship that she credited with saving both her husband and her soul.
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Additionally, Dick and his son Ken traced the early and overlooked spiritual links both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob shared through their years of growing up in Vermont. His book The Conversion of Bill W helps readers gain a deeper insight into Bill’s own darkness as well as the factors that contributed to his famous white light experience in Towns’ Hospital. Readers will also learn about an event that is far less well known - the altar call to which Bill responded at Calvary Mission where he gave his life to Christ.
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Most recently, Dick researched the 400 pages cut from the original manuscript of the Big Book only to discover the many Christian references that had been deleted.
Today, there are a growing number
of splinter groups that “take what they like from AA and leave the rest.”
Running the gamut from Celebrate Recovery to Atheists Anonymous, the 12 Steps in
various forms are now being co-opted by our secular and materialistic American
culture. It’s to be expected and nobody, not even Dick, is whining. It’s not
unlike what occurred in the early church when Christianity was uprooted and
transplanted into the state religion. The original message – not unlike the
original manuscript – lost much in the process.
Dick B. has made a tremendous
contribution to all of us who owe our lives to the 12–Steps and to our
Fellowships. He’s painstakingly documented the principles, players, and events
that turned our once “hopeless condition of mind and body” into what is
now recognized by most experts in the field as an illness that is mental and
physical, but recognized by far too few that its successful treatment is
necessarily achieved only through working a strong spiritual program, much as
they did in early A.A. This Christmas do yourself a real favor. Go to
www.DickB.com and
order a copy of The Good Book and the Big Book or The Oxford Group and
Alcoholics Anonymous. Either one will surely brighten your Christmas and
shine some of God’s light into your darkness.
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